​The Charlotte Hornets have announced that Kon Knueppel has been diagnosed with a left hamstring strain.The second-year forward will be re-evaluated in four weeks.Knueppel missed the first eight games of the season because of a left hamstring injury. He made his season debut on November 4 against the Brooklyn Nets but played just five minutes before re-aggravating his left leg. This is really bad news for the Hornets, who are 3-7. Even though Knueppel didn’t win the 2025-26 Rookie of the Year award, he still had a remarkable season. The sharpshooter averaged 18.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game and shot 47.5% from the field, 42.5% from beyond the arc and 86.3% from the free-throw line and led the NBA in 3-pointers.Knueppel claimed the first four Rookie of the Month awards last season, becoming the first Hornet ever to win the award four times.Here is what else Knueppel accomplished last season, via the Hornets:  At age 20, became the only player in NBA history age 22 or younger to record 250 3PM in a season against New York (March 26).Passed Michael Jordan for the NBA rookie record for most games with 20+ points on 65% true shooting (27) against Miami (March 6) in his then-rookie-leading 14th 25-point game.Set an NBA rookie record for 3-pointers made in a season (207) with a career-high-tying and franchise-rookie-record-tying 8 3PM at Indiana (Feb. 26); Knueppel tied his own franchise rookie record.Set a new NBA record for most games with 5+ 3PM by a rookie with 14 at Atlanta (Feb. 7).Broke the rookie record for most games with 20+ points on 50/40/90 shooting splits (12) against Golden State (Dec. 31), previously set by Stephen Curry.Knueppel is one of three rookies in NBA history (min. 25 games played) to average 15 points and 5 rebounds per game and shoot 40% from 3-point range; the other two are Larry Bird and Paul Pierce.Knueppel and Brandon Miller are the new franchise players in Charlotte after the LaMelo Ball trade. The Hornets traded Ball to the Minnesota Timberwolves this summer. Miles Bridges was also traded to the Phoenix Suns. Charlotte is averaging only 96.3 points per game. That’s last in the NBA. The offense will likely continue to struggle since Knueppel will be out for a while. It’s early, but it appears the Hornets made a mistake by trading Ball, who is averaging 18.3 points and 6.0 assists per game for the Timberwolves. Without Ball, Charlotte is having trouble scoring the basketball and that trend will probably continue with Knueppel sidelined.